


a bad moon, a good omen

by WelcomeToTheBadlands



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Awkward Flirting, Badass Rey, Bandits & Outlaws, Cowboys & Cowgirls, Dyslexia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Leia Organa Needs a Hug, Missing Persons, Murder, References to Drugs, Sex Positive, Sex Work, Sharing a Bed, Shooting Guns, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21656932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelcomeToTheBadlands/pseuds/WelcomeToTheBadlands
Summary: Kylo Ren is an infamous outlaw in a gang with many branches, he's the leader of the Knights of Ren, the most profitable branch for the First Order.When he starts making more trouble than the New Republic's mayor, Leia Organa would like to handle, she hires 'The One In White' to handle that sect of the First Order and get them out of her city.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. The Man In Black

**Author's Note:**

  * For [splintered_souls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/splintered_souls/gifts).



> Chapter # may shorten or lengthen depending on motivation, inspiration, and number of comments.

_He tasted blood in his mouth. It wasn’t the first time he had been in a fight, but those were all in the schoolyard with boys who weren’t trained to make each blow as painful as possible. It was the first time he was being hit by brass knuckles, and it was a feeling he never forgot._  
____

  
The air tasted like dust and ash. Probably a remnant of the recent mine explosion which Kylo Ren actually had nothing to do with. He hadn’t been in town when the Order had done that, but if he had been he would’ve talked the Knights out of doing that. The mines were a source of revenue from the town, and you can’t exactly rob something when there’s no revenue in the first place. It’s starting to get chaotic, and Kylo guessed that he should have expected that that was going too happen at some time, but it didn’t stop him from feeling gross about it.   


There were children that worked in those minds. Feeling guilt isn’t going to change anything about it. Kylo squinted down at the summons he’d gotten to come back to Blackwater. Snoke’s handwriting was getting worse. It was already hard to read, being dyslexic and all. But from what he could discern, he got the message. ‘ _There’s a new peddler in town selling a brand of snake oil that’s particularly lethal. He’s encroaching on our business, kill him and bring the money_.’ He didn’t say please. 

  
He never said please, but still a bit of respect was usually in some of his messages. Kylo rolled his eyes and then stuffed the paper in his pocket as he continued towards town. It was usually an easy way to get shot if he came in on a horse, so this time he didn’t. He had taken a knife and three guns and some bullets, alone with a flask of water, and that was all that he had to him.   


It always was hell walking back like this, but that’s what he got from wearing all black. _At least_ , he thought to himself, _my skin isn’t blistering right now._ That was the most he could say that he was happy about. What he really wanted right now was something to eat, and a reason to not be in Blackwater. 

He didn’t have that though. He had twenty miles to go and someone to kill, and that was it. But he knew that Snoke would reward him handsomely once the job was done. So it was, within an hour of his arrival. He’d gruffly asked a civilian where he lived, knocked on the door of his lodging in the local saloon and shot him dead when he opened the door. 

It didn’t take long to find five hundred dollars underneath the floorboard and then go to the Carved Bullet. This was another saloon; the only difference was that all of the criminals came here. The money was on Snoke’s lap and the old man grimaced.   


“You’re late,”   


“I walked. From Coruscant. Also doing a job that you wanted me to do,”   


“Did you leave immediately when you got the note?” 

“No,” 

“Then you’re late. You get one hundred and fifty.” There was no use in arguing. Kylo set his jaw. 

“Fine.” Snoke put down one hundred and fifty dollars on the table in front of him and then a room key.  
"Thanks."

  
He was about to take the key when Snoke held it out of reach. "Don't be a brat, boy."

  
"Thank you, sir." The money and key were in his hands after that. He didn't care about anything else Snoke said after that, he went to his room and slept through the rest of the day. He was pretty sure he would’ve slept through the next if the bartender from the saloon hadn’t come to wake him. 

  
Finn Trooper was about the only man in Blackwater that you could trust. Everyone, criminals and civilians alike, knew that he was a kind hearted God fearing man who was not be messed with. “Ren, Snoke wants to talk. I left a plate of bacon and beans downstairs for you, I’m heading home.”

  
“Thanks,” He shouted before the man left. If there were more men like him in the sects of the Order, Kylo might’ve not been so tired of everything.  
Might’ve not been so tired of Snoke. 

  
Yet here he was, wondering just what the point of his existence was. He considering taking a cigar down with him to relief the stress, but he’d been recently seeing people’s lungs fall weak to the smoke and wondered to himself if the cigars had anything to do with it. If they did, he would quit at least one of his vices, because lung disease did not seem like a fun way to go.

  
Kylo found himself dreading every single step he took down those stairs, and he felt nauseous. Every time Snoke wanted to talk, it never went well for him, much to the bemusement of the older outlaw.  
Talk meant verbal abuse, or torture, and sometimes new jobs.

  
That’s what talk meant. But the when he saw that old man’s face and he was already eating the food that Finn had _laid out_ for _him_ something in him just snapped. Maybe, it was the fact that he was exhausted or maybe the fact that he was hungry but he just said it. 

There was no reason to beat around the bush anymore. 

“I want out,” He didn’t even look surprised. It wasn’t the first time he had said that, though. “I don’t want to be part of the Knights anymore and I don’t want to keep being on the run.”

“Okay,”

“Okay?”

“Just like that?” It was never, just like that. Ben could tell when Snoke’s face split into a smile that made chills go down his back. 

“No, not just like that. I have one more job I need you to do, one that will take you a long time and require you pick up the side jobs I ask of you to bring in revenue. If you do the long job though, I’ll give you a good cut and you can leave.”

“I’m listening,”


	2. Woman in White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a little key in case it's hard to follow how the chapter is structured
> 
> a paragraph break with this "__" signals breaks between flashback and present. This "***" signals a POV change. 
> 
> Hope you like, thanks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "When do you know to put a sick dog down?" - Hitch a Ride, Delta Rae

_The soil was thick and rich, feeling much more like clay to the touch than the soft stuff that Rey was used to. A girl so little should not be able to dig six feet under so quickly, yet here she was, shovel in hand. Rose Tico and her sister, Paige were sniffling in the background. “You’re safe now,” Paige kept telling her little sister. “You’re safe now, Rey killed the bad guy.”_

_Rey’s mouth felt dry and she heaved another clump of dirt out of the hole. The hole was not wide enough to look like a grave had been freshly dug. It was more the width of a dog’s grave, but it was definitely a little more than six feet deep. “I need a hand up,” She said when she was finished. Paige held her hand out as Rose watched the endless fields of wheat, looking to see if the Sheriff was coming. There was no one._

_"Do you have the axe?” She asked the older girl._

_“Yes,”_

_"_ _You might want to close Rose’s eyes for this bit.”_

_

The first time that Rey ever shot someone, she was fourteen years old. The story is told by many men in the West. Often bastardized, forgetting the motive and just telling tales of gruesome murders like men often do. Still, some truth to the story remained. She shot her caretaker Unkar Plutt in the stomach with his sawed off when she found out he was selling young girls to older men for them to chew up and spit out. Thus, began her career in vigilantism.

She was mostly a gun for hire who helped local authority, but sometimes, she would take calls under the book by women who’d want to get out of abusive relationships and had no other way to disappear into the night. She would make sure that those abusers died bloody, just as she would remorseless killers who always thought that they could outshoot her.

No one could ever outshoot Rey.

No one ever had.

Still, it amused her every time someone boasted that they could. Which was how Rey and Leia first met each other. Of course, the mayor of the New Republic wasn’t the one claiming to be able to outshoot her, but a drunk man by the name of Poe Dameron. “Don’t listen to him,” The bar tender said. She was a pretty, young woman. “He’s got an ego as big as Texas.”

“I bet,” Rey said. She had dealt with Dameron before. He was a lot nicer when he was sober, a lot smarter too. She just ignored him for the time being.

“Oh come on, Rey.” Poe slurred, “I know you want to—” He stopped so he could hiccup “—shut me up. So why don’t you prove it. Prove that you’re better than me.”

“You’re not even sober, so I don’t think aiming bullets at each other would go well for you or me.”

“Okay then, how about darts. That’s close, right? Aiming and shit, I’d still win.” Rey rolled her eyes and glanced from the bar tender to him.

“Poe,” The blonde snapped.

“Kaydel,” Poe stuck out his tongue.

“I’ll play you, but you have to wager something.”

“Okay,”

“If I win, you give me ten dollars and pay for my next meal.”

“Done.” He told her. It was really too easy. Poe was so drunk that he could barely stand up, but when he lost, at least he was a good sport about it. He fished out his money and then let her order a soup and some bread before going off to bother some other girl. She had about four seconds of silence where she really, really got to eat, when the mayor sat down across from her.

“Miss Organa,” Rey nearly choked on her soup when the woman sat down uninvited. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” The woman smiled, a tight politician’s smile, but Rey could tell that she was tired.

“Please, just call me Leia. And you’re Rey, I presume?”

“Yes,” Rey said cautiously. She knew that some mayors had problems with the police force hiring vigilantes, although they usually couldn’t stop it, they would always come and try and chase Rey out of her lodging. She wasn’t sure if the same thing was happening here or not.

“Good, great. I had something that I wanted to talk to you, and a job. It’s rather profitable, but it would mean that you stay here for a long while – but I think that you would like to hear this proposal.”

“Okay,”

“Are you aware of the First Order?”

“Yes,” Rey said, “they fund most of the criminals in the west.” Most of them except her, because Rey could be considered a criminal in some respects.

“Well, one of their sects is located the next town over. Crime has been starting to filter in from Blackwater, Coruscant and Takodana are already feeling the effects of the poison that is the First Order. The Knights of Ren being so close is something that worries me about the safety of my city. I know that it’s impossible to dismantle the First Order, but if you could help me take down the Knights of Ren, you would inherit ten thousand dollars.”

“Ten thousand dollars?” Rey choked.

“Not so loud,”

“Right, sorry. Ten thousand, though?” Rey hissed. “You have that kind of money,”

“I come from a long line of rich men and women, Rey. I can give you that. Right up front, I can give you five hundred.”

“I’ll take it,” She said. Leia gave her a parcel.

“In it, you’ll find the key to the guest house I have. You can take your horse to my stables, it’ll be cared for there, and you’ll have full cooperation from the Sheriff.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“It’s my pleasure, doing business with you. Now, I’ll leave you to your food.”

_

_A woman was sobbing in church. “I saw an awful thing!” She declared. Her voice was loud and shaky. It sounded like Old Woman Josephina had gone off her rocker, finally. “A spectre, a woman in white! Her dress drenched in blood!” Rey froze. “She carried an axe and a pistol with her, and s-she looked barely old enough to be a teenager.”_

_S_ _he looked to Paige, who looked like she was going to vomit. Rose gave Rey’s hand a squeeze. A sign that told her that neither sister was going to say what the crime she did was. “It must have been a witch!” Someone cried._

_“_ _What is this, the sixteen hundreds? Salem?” Paige hissed under her breath. “This is ridiculous.”_

_“_ _Shush,” Rey said, “don’t let anyone hear you.”_

_

The guest house that Leia offered her was a lot nicer than anything that Rey had ever been in. She wasn’t sure exactly what to do about that. She didn’t need that much. She was used to sleeping in stables or on the ground in the open. Now, she had a bed that was too soft for her and so many blankets.

That night, Leia invited her to have dinner together. They discussed business, places the Knights frequented, and other things. And then they got into personal things. “So where did the ‘Woman in White’ nickname come from?”

“Do you know the story of my first kill?”

“You killed a human trafficker,”

“Yes, well there was a woman who saw me burying him and at the time I was wearing all white. She went to the church crying about seeing a specter and then it just stuck.”

“How did you get to the point where you killed a human trafficker?”

“He was my caretaker,” Leia got a little bit quiet.

“Sorry,” She said, “I probably shouldn’t have asked you about that stuff, then.”

“No, it’s fine.” Rey shrugged. “I barely remember my time in his home anyway. It was ten years ago, but it seems like a life time ago. So much has happened since then,”

“Still, must’ve been hard.”

“It was. But that’s life.” The two of them ate in silence for a little bit before Leia continued to talk.

“You must forgive me for getting too personal,” Leia told her, “I usually don’t. It’s just the mother in me—I guess. I’m sorry for asking you those things, especially if they might’ve been uncomfortable.”

“I don’t get uncomfortable easily,” Rey admitted, “but thank you for your concern. That sort of thing is rare.” After that, they finished their meals and retired to their rooms. Rey told herself that the next day, she would get to work. That night, she didn’t use the bed, but took a pillow and a blanket and slept on the floor instead.

**_ *** _ **

“The mayor of the New Republic has hired a vigilante,” Kylo tensed up when he heard that. He could taste bile at the back of his throat.

“I told you that I don’t take jobs involving her,” He said flatly.

“Relax, boy. The job does not require you to go anywhere near that shrewd.” He tried to distract himself from the nausea by biting the inside of his cheek. The pain helped a little bit, but not much. “The vigilante that was hired, there’s many names for her, The Woman in White, the Vengeful Witch, Death on a White Horse. She’s one that likes to stay on her high horse, and she’s most likely been hired to deal with the Knights of Ren. I want you to kill her. Bring me her head or a finger or something and then you’re free to go live your life and I will never contact you again.”

“Do you have an actual name for this Woman in White?”

“That’s something my sources haven’t gotten, but she’s supposedly smaller in stature, brunette, and wears all white or all grey, carries two pistols and wears pants. That should help you enough, don’t you think?” Kylo didn’t talk back to him this time, although every little molecule in his being told him that he should.

It was better just to avoid conflict. “This job sounds like something that could take more than a couple months if this girl’s as good as her pretentious nicknames claim that she is.”

“That’s why I said that you were going to have to take several jobs between now and then.”

“Fine,” Kylo said, “I’ll do it.”

He just wanted out at this point. He was so tired of everything, and he was smart enough to know when something was going downhill. Snoke was an old man and his health was declining fast, along with his mental capacities. It was time to jump ship, and he must’ve been the only Knight who knew when to call it.

He turned away, starting to walk back to his room so he could get his things prepared. “Good boy,” Snoke said. That made him stop in his path, his hands shaking. He was glad that there were no other Knights around right now to witness the emotion on his face.

__

_“Good boy,” A bony hand wrapped itself around the teenaged Ben Solo’s shoulder. Ben’s hands were shaking. His friend, Snap, laid dead on the floor in front of him. “You’re getting better at your draw.”_

__

Kylo turned around, biting back the replies that he wanted to give him and instead said, “If I’m going to kill this vigilante, I want to be the only one who knows about it and the only who does it.”

“Done,”

“Thank you, sir.” His voice was clipped, even though he tried to disguise the venom in it. He had never been very good at hiding his emotions. He needed to go back to his room. He kept walking before the old man could say anything else that could rattle him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like what I do, consider donating to my Ko-fi: 
> 
> ko-fi.com/carina-manning


	3. Chapter 3

_“I’m going to go,” Rey told Rose and Paige._

_“What? Why?” Rose sounded bewildered._

_“If I stay, you guys could get hurt. If they find out what I did—”_

_“Rey, when I told you that you could stay with us, I meant it. Damn the consequences.” Paige told her. The two of them stared at them for a moment and Rey felt like her heart was going to break._

_“I’m sorry,” She said, “but I love you both too much to put you in danger like that, so I can’t. I just can’t, okay?” She walked out of the door with nothing but the supplies in her backpack after that._

__

Rey took a breath of fresh air in and started to think. She knew that the people who ran the First Order were good at instilling fear into people, but they weren’t very great at being discrete, so finding them would be easy. It was taking them down that was the harder part. Some of the most infamous villains of the West belonged to the First Order. Including Kylo Ren. Rey was pretty sure that she could kill him and trigger other members to come knocking on her doorstep, but part of her didn’t want to. Rumors were Kylo Ren often gave some of his bounties to the poor, that he killed former slave masters, rapists, that he made sure little kids he saw starving on the street always had food when he saw them.

Was he worth killing? He had done some horrible things but if what people said about him was true he couldn’t be that bad, could he? Maybe it would be more useful to get on his good side to get more information about the First Order. Rey was just trying to figure out the least difficult way to do that.

Leia had come over to talk with her about rendezvous points and frequent targets of the First Order. Rey started to formulate a plan. She hoped that it worked.

__

_“Ben,” Leia’s voice was softer than usual. “I brought you something to eat,” It had been four days since the funeral of Han Solo, and Ben felt like something had broken inside him. He hadn’t cried at all, you were supposed to cry for your father? Weren’t you? Instead, he felt angry. Angrier than he had ever been in his life. “You need to eat, sweetheart.”_

_“Go away,”_

_“Ben, I know things are painful right now, but I won’t lose you too. Pl—”_

_“I said go away!” He turned to glare at her, and she set the bowl of soup she had made for him on his nightstand before turning and closing the door._

__

There was a lot of gossip about the Woman in White. It was really easy to learn where she was, specifically because a Woman in White who was also a gunslinger and wore pants. He wasn’t too eager to leave, though. Due to the fact that he was exhausted, and he didn’t really find himself in a rush to die. Kylo took up another job offer from the First Order, one that would ensure enough money to get the job done. Robbing the Kanjiklub casino. Snoke had first suggested a bank, but he had refused, not giving his reasoning as to why. That reasoning being that most poor people that could barely feed their own kids put some of their stock in the bank, and Ben wasn’t really the type of person to take money from starving children.

The casino was in a richer area, and they were practically throwing money away there, so why shouldn’t he take it? He had also picked up the ways of gambling pretty fast when his father was still alive, so he knew how to handle himself at the table without being obvious about it.

Robberies that went off without a hitch and had little to no casualties took some effort to plan, it wasn’t possible to just go in somewhere and take money if you didn’t plan on killing people. And honestly, he didn’t want to kill anyone.

He was so tired of killing people.

It was better if he just went in by himself, earned some money at the tables and followed one of the workers in the back to get his money from the safe. The Knights would wait outside for him, pretending to be his stagecoach in case something would go wrong. Of course, they wanted to get in on the action but they did whatever Kylo Ren told them to, for fear of repercussion. “It’s for the best,” He told them. “Only come in if you hear gun shots.”

“We’ve done this before,” Tallie Ren said. Kylo only responded with an eye roll before going inside. He could feel someone’s eyes on him, but he wasn’t sure who’s. Even with a cursory glance of the crowd, he was pretty good at figuring out when there was a threat around him that he needed to look out for. He didn’t see anyone this time.

The Kanjiklub casino smelled like cedar wood, smoke, and whiskey. It was always filled with the richest outlaws in the land. The ones that claimed to be law abiding citizens but lined their pockets with blood money of miners and former slave owners. The ones who embezzled money from the poor. They all liked to throw their money away here, and Kylo just thought that this was one of the best places to take advantage of.

It also happened to be the most guilt free place to rob as well. The first table he went to was one filled with newbies. Kids of rich and entitled socialites that had too much money to squander and too much time on their hands. None of them knew how to play correctly and of course, one of them tried to cheat him out of his winnings. Of course, he won. The cheater tried to accuse him of cheating until a bouncer found the cards that the kid had stuffed up his sleeve.

“I should have you shot for that, kid.” Kylo sighed, “but since I’m feeling charitable today, just get the fuck out of my sight and give me all you’ve earned.” The boy did and left without another word. Kylo laughed to himself a little, and went a few more rounds before he earned about two hundred dollars and called in. He went to get his earning cashed and asked to go into the back with the worker to collect his earnings and rob the safe.

__

_Rey got used to being hungry. It wasn’t something that she liked or felt particularly great. That’s why she started a life of crime. She wasn’t proud of it, but she needed to eat. Robbing casinos and getting in with men who thought that she was a delicate flower that needed taking care of, before another woman convinced her that maybe she should use her skills for something else._

_Maybe she should use her skills for good._

__

Rey had no idea why anyone would ever go to Kanjiklub casino. It was gaudy and there was too much of a frilly perfume smell in the air that made her head ache profusely. But this was one of the places that Kylo Ren frequented and she wanted to get a lay of the land.

She wasn’t sure what she expected the first time she saw him. Maybe someone older, more scarred and grizzled. Someone who looked like they had been through a hundred year war. That was not what she got from the Man in Black. Instead, Rey got a younger man that looked way too sad for someone his age. He wasn’t much older than her but he was bigger, and he looked like he was in pain.

It wasn’t too often that Rey felt the smallest bit of compassion for her targets, but she felt it now. Still, she had to squander that. She was here for a reason, and she wasn’t so naïve as to think that the Master of the Knights of Ren was just here to gamble. She watched him work the tables for a solid hour before he went to cash in his earnings. This was starting to look like something that Rey had done herself, all too often.

He got up after getting a kid thrown out and went to collect his earnings, and Rey waited a second before she walked into the back as well. She found that if you walked into a place like you were supposed to be there, you wouldn’t be questioned. That’s what happened when she followed Ren and the poor casino worker to the back.

She waited as the casino worker opened the safe and then Kylo knocked him out. That’s when she showed herself. “Put your hands up, Ren.” To her surprise, he did. He didn’t even reach for his gun.

“Listen,” He said, “if you are who I think you are I have wanted to talk to you.”

“I don’t care, give me one reason I shouldn’t shoot you down right now.”

“I can if you let me turn around and please—don’t shoot me.”

"Don't shoot," Rey fired a warning shot that grazed his shoulder but did not majorly wound him.

"Motherfuck-" That was when all hell broke loose.

__

Don’t shoot, he had said. What did she do? She shot at him when he turned around. He could already hear the Knights of Ren starting to bust into the casino with gunfire and the screams of rich socialites. “God damn it,” Rey didn’t take her eyes off him. “Listen, you can either go and take out the people that are actually hurting innocents or you can stay here and kill me. It’s up to you.”

“Like I’m just going to let you take money like that.”

“Ma’am if I turn up with nothing, I’ll get killed. That’s just how it works around here. I don’t want to do this, but I figured if I had to do something I might as well steal from the rich, you know? So please, just here me out. We can meet somewhere and I’ll explain the rest to you.” He had to think quick. Everything was happening way too fast.

“How do I know that I can trust you?”

“I’ve been under Snoke’s thumb since I was a little kid, and frankly I’m tired of doing the wrong thing. So please, just trust me.” It seemed like an eternity passed before the Woman in White spoke.

“Meet me outside of town, halfway point between New Republic and Blackwater.” She dropped her gun and was about to leave when Kylo said.

“Wait,”

“What?”

“You need to hit me.”

“What?”

“You need to hit me, I have to have some kind of bruise or they won’t believe that I got away alive.” She gave him a look, but before he even reassured her it was okay, she left him with a right hook that left him seeing stars for a few seconds. By the time he recovered, she was gone, he grabbed the money, and ran. 

Two of the Knights were dead by the time they all left, Kylo with the money, Tallie brought a keg of hard cider as well. Usually, Snoke would have been mad about the way the robbery went, but he didn’t seem mad at all. He just stared at the bags and bags of money that Kylo had taken out of the safe and then said. “Thank you, that will be all.”

“Sir, the Woman in White was there.” Kylo was almost out of the door when one of the Knights of Ren said that. Great. Fuck.

“And you didn’t kill her,” Kylo stopped, his hands clenched tight and shaking. “I thought we had an agreement boy, that’s how you get out.”

“In case you didn’t know this,” He turned around, “she’s good at her job, and we weren’t in an even playing field. She caught me by surprise.”

“Right,” He coughed, staring at Kylo with his beady black eyes. “Well it best not happen again.”

“It won’t,” He said, “but right now I have to go run for some supplies. Weapons. Food. Just extra things we’re running low on.”

“Fine, then go.”

Kylo couldn’t believe that it was that easy.

__

Rey waited so long that she doubted that he was actually going to come. He showed up right at sundown though, and Rey had her gun raised and ready. “I need to pat you down,” She told him. He didn’t object to it, letting her pat him down before realizing that he didn’t come with any weapons at all. So she stepped back and holstered her gun. “Okay, talk.”

He opened his mouth and then shut it. Rey wondered if he was going to go back on what he had promised her, but he ended up speaking like he had promised. “I have information on the First Order that I’m willing to give you. I know that you’ve been asked to take us down—I can help you with that.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Why would I want to escape years of abuse?” Part of Rey’s heart felt like it was going to tear.

“Tell me more.”


	4. Four Months

She said _tell me more_ and he did. Kylo wasn’t sure why he told her everything that he did, seeing as they didn’t know each other. But he needed to tell someone everything that had happened to him, and why he was just so tired. Surprisingly, she listened. When he was done, he felt like he was out of breath and she was just staring at him, unblinking. “No wonder you want to leave,” She said. “But why not just disappear.”

He shook his head, “The First Order is too big for that. Couldn’t get on a boat and out of the country before they found me and took me back to Snoke and despite everything I really don’t want to die, if you know what I mean.” She nodded. “I can help you—take them down.”

“Okay,” Rey said, “help would be good. I need intel. Places where they store money. That sort of thing. But don’t give me anything that could end up in you getting hurt.” He swallowed hard. “I can do my best without the super secret stuff that you know.” He told her the bars they frequented for the next three cities and usual times when they struck up upon illegal activities.

There, they devised a plan.

They would meet up once, every two months and plan. The takedown of such a big criminal organization would take such a long time to plan anyway. Rey bid him farewell, and the two of them left.

__

_It had been years since Rose Tico had seen Rey. She was older now, and she and her sister had done well for themselves with their general store. And then some for hire outlaws came into Canto Bight and set everything on fire. Paige had told Rose to stay hidden, and even though Rose wanted to go out and help her sister protect the store, even though she had protested, her sister had locked her in the basement below their house._

_Rose waited for her sister to come back. Even after the shots died down and the screams stopped._

_Her sister didn’t come back. Rose broke out of the basement the next day to see her house rampaged and the town of Canto Bight fell quiet. She walked into the streets, screaming her sister’s name until her voice went raw. She looked everywhere, trying to find her._

_Instead, all she saw was the blackened remains of their store._

__

It was morning of the next day the next time that Rey saw Leia Organa, and she asked her where she’d been. “Got worried,” She said, “that someone might’ve taken you out.”

“Ha!” Rey laughed, “good one. No, I just got a lead on the First Order. Wanted to follow it.”

“What was the lead if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Kylo Ren,”

Leia nearly choked on the tea that she had been drinking. “What? The Gunslinger?”

“He wants to leave the Order,”

“And you believe that outlaw?”

“I’m a pretty good judge of character.” Rey said. “And trust me, he was genuine.” She didn’t tell Leia about the story he told. About being abducted as a boy. About being tortured. She was sure that the woman didn’t want to hear such details. Rey knew that she hadn’t wanted to, but now she had a reliable source of information from someone that had a motive to take Snoke down.

Rey told Leia what he had told her about locations of bars that they frequent and scheduled robberies and all that, how they set up plans to meet, all of that. “Well, sounds like you’ve got this under control.” Leia told her. “I don’t have to worry.”

__

_Rey knew what it was like to go hungry before she killed Unkar Plutt. But now that she had killed him and left Rose and Paige behind to make sure that they were safe, she knew what it was like to be hungry and without shelter. That was something that she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemies._

_Before she started out on the path that would put her on the right side of history, in between jobs, she knew what it was like to be scared of the dark and the cold._

_Sometimes for a prolonged period of time, because her conscious would remind her that it’s there and make her feel like shit for trying to get a place to stay._

__

**Two Months Later**

The next time Ben and Rey met, it was long past dark and the dim glow of a lantern was the only thing that alerted him to her presence out there in the vast expanse of sand. “You’re late,” She was munching down on some cooked bird when Ben’s feet hit the ground.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” He told her, “Snoke made it difficult for me to get away.”

“Didn’t say that I was mad,” Rey told him, “just stating a fact.” She bit into her food again and Ben’s stomach reminded him that it had been at least a day since he had last eaten. Maybe longer. “Want some?” She held a bowl up with two other pieces of meat in them. One must’ve been a quail.

“If you don’t mind.”

“Have them both.” He took the bowl from her and sat down. “So—”

“We don’t have to talk about the First Order right now,” He raised an eyebrow. “Eat,” So he did, and probably faster than he had before. He wished he’d had more by the time that he was done. “You seem hungry.”

“Haven’t eaten in a while.” Then something in Rey’s demeanor changed, and she pulled out a leather pouch.

“Take that with you,” She threw it to him, and he caught it.

“What’s this?”

“Jerky and some dried fruit. Not a lot of stuff unfortunately but if you need a little something—you know. Have some food.”

“Thank you,” He wasn’t sure why she did that. He almost gave it back to her. The two of them shared an awkward silence before Rey turned.

“Now, intel. ‘fess up.”

__

He tells her about a scheduled robbery that’s going to happen in the next week. She’s there to stop it when it happens. Kylo goes home with half of the amount of money that he should and Snoke screams at him until Tallie intervenes and tells him that there was a lot more gunpower there than expected. Snoke seems to find this acceptable. When Kylo is about to go back to his room, he mouths a silent thank you to her. She nods and gives him a small, sad smile. It takes a long time for him to go to sleep, but when he does, he sleeps through the entirety of the next day as well.

The first thing that Tallie asked him when he woke up was, “Are you okay?” He was thrown off by the concern. Tallie Ren was never concerned with him.

“Yeah, why?”

“You’ve seemed off lately. Not going to betray the group, are you?” Kylo nearly choked on air when she asked that.

“Why would I do that?”

“Oh, no reason.” It was Finn that saved him from any more conversation.

“Kylo, buddy. You want breakfast?”

“That sounds amazing.”

“Good.” He set down a plate of eggs and sausage and Kylo turned away from Tallie and went over to the bar.

“Thanks.”

“Held back some food for you,” He said. “Didn’t see you up yesterday.”

“I was tired yesterday,”

“You need to make sure you eat.”

“I’m eating right now,”

“I know,” He said. Finn was a good man. Still, Kylo wondered why he was pretending to care. “You’re the only tolerable Knight here though. Getting yelled at by Snoke the entire day made me really notice your lack of presence.”

“Ha, thanks. I guess.”

__

**Two Months Later**

The next time that Rey and Kylo meet, she has more food for him, and an extra canteen of water. He tells her thank you, and that she didn’t have to do that. Rey tells him that it’s no problem. “How was your day?” He has no idea why she was asking him about that, but he tells her everything. Tells her about how it takes restraint for him to not just pull his gun out and kill him. “I can understand that,”

“I wish I could tell you that there were interesting developments or something but everything’s been pretty slow for the past two months.”

“That’s fine,” Rey said. He expects her to tell him to leave but she doesn’t. She doesn’t even look disappointed. Instead, she looks like he’s just told her something good. She smiles at him, and Ben’s heart does something weird. “We can stay out here a little bit longer before you have to go back.” So he does. The two of them just talk to each other the entire time.

“So, how did you get the whole Woman in White name?”

“I killed a man,” Rey said. She said it so non-chalant but the first thing that Kylo thought was _I should not be attracted to that._ “He used to be my caretaker and he was selling girls. So, I took his shotgun and I shot him in the stomach. Then I got an axe and chopped him up and buried him about eight feet under.”

“Well,” He chuckled a little, “how old were you?”

“Pretty young,” Rey said, “about thirteen, I think. I was wearing a white dress and someone saw me bury him. That’s how I got the nickname and it just stuck after that.”

“I like it,”

“What’s the chance that the Woman in White and Man in Black teamed up together?”

“Yeah, I know. What are the chances of that?” She smiles at him and Kylo wishes that he could stay there forever. Rey’s presence was definitely preferable to being anywhere around Snoke.

“I really don’t want to go back,” He sighed, “but I have to go back now.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, go back later.”

“While I would love to stay, I do have to go. I would like to not get punished by Snoke.”

“Take care of yourself, Ben.” To that, he raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“Take care of yourself.” The first thing that he wanted to say was _why did you say that?_ But he didn’t. He just bid her goodbye and didn’t look back.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like what I do consider following me @feral-rey on tumblr! If you'd like to help me keep going to college, a donation to ko-fi.com/carina-manning is much appreciated.


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